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January 2008

On the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, it was snowing in Michigan. Like most schools, the University of Michigan had given its students a day-off. Unlike most schools, it had created an ambitious month-long symposium in honor of Dr. King so rich and impressive, that even the snow couldn’t keep more than 300 people from packing the auditorium to standing-room-only to watch Divided We Fall. My director and I take the stage to thank everyone, especially our hosts the University Libraries, for choosing to reflect on Dr. King’s message through our film. “He would have been here […]

The new year begins in blood. Kenya is seized by violence. Benazir Bhutto is assasinated and Pakistan is consumed by riots. More soldiers are killed in Iraq. And here at home, terrible news spreads through the Sikh community — two Sikh brothers are shot to death at their restaurant in Richmond, California: Two men shuffled down San Pablo Avenue on a wet December night. They passed a burger joint and doughnut shop before pausing at the door to Sahib Indian Restaurant. One banged on the window. “You open?” he mouthed to his quarry inside. It was a few minutes past […]

It has been nearly a year since I wrote here last, and yet 2007 was my most public year yet. I traveled the country on a national film and speaking tour, living out of my suitcase, moving from city to city, encountering stories and people and ideas like never before. If writing is my primary way of understanding my experiences, why did I not write? I was asked over and over again, and now in this new year, when I’m returning to myself and the world, I feel I must come clean. It begins with a story, as it always […]